


I'm A Believer

by constellationsofsentences



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, I'M A BELIEVER, Shrek - Freeform, Tratie, set during tlo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 15:53:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7580542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/constellationsofsentences/pseuds/constellationsofsentences
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katie and Travis are fighting like pros, but then a hydra has to come along and ruin everything. Features extreme musical talent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm A Believer

**Author's Note:**

> This little oneshot has been festering in my brain for many years, so I hope you like it.

Monsters. Monsters everywhere. Slashing and kicking. Plants growing. 

Katie looked to either side of her. Her brothers and sisters, fighting tooth and nail. These monsters would not get past them. 

They were strong. 

A dracaena lunged at Katie, and she dodged and feinted left, then attacked right. Tree roots bound its feet. Its arms. The dracaena made one final shriek, as it obliterated into golden dust. 

But then- another one. 

"Killed my sssisster, I'll kill you, and then help my colleaguesss with the Hermesss ssspawn!"

Katie felt her body freeze up. No. Keep fighting. The dracaena grazed her arm, but Katie was fast. Faster. She lunged, and gold dust sprayed everywhere. She used her foot to spread it, and then ran, ran as fast as her legs would take her. 

Travis.

Travis...

Ten minutes, and she was there. He was there too. Miranda was racing after her, and behind them, more monsters. 

Everything was swirling about in her head. She couldn't focus. Too many clashes, bangs, noise. But he saw her. Standing there, looking at him, as the whirlwind of noise and flashing metal surrounded them.

But it wouldn't last.

He saw it before she did, and his eyes widened. He surged forward, pushed her out of the way.

"No!" she cried. The hydra head came down.

Down,

Down,

Down.

It hit the target, teeth sinking into his arm. She screamed.

No,

No,

No.

She wasn't sure if she was the one yelling it.

This could not be happening. She ran to him as he began to crumple. 

Down he went.

Down,

Down,

Down.

His brother came. She held his head. He took the legs.

Her tears fell down onto his head, and endless waterfall of sorrow and regret. 

His breathing was shallow when they burst into the designated Medical area.

"Will!"

Shouts, people crying out.

Stitches and bandages and ambrosia everywhere.

And blood.

The blond boy turned. He was a boy no longer. He was a doctor, frantically running everywhere. He saw Katie, and the boy and stopped.

"Will," she whispered.

And the doctor said, "I'm here."

*

She had gone back out.

She couldn't handle it, the white of the medic's jacket, turned brown with mud and the blood of all her friends.

Her family.

It was too much.

Too much.

She turned left, right, left again. The dizziness was overwhelming.

Something hit her head, and she was 

fa

l

l

in

g

.

*

When she woke again, they'd won. Won the war. They'd done it. 

It was over.

She felt the relief rush over her, let herself succumb to it.

A dam stopped it in its tracks.

He wasn't awake yet. They weren't sure if he would ever wake up.

"A lot of venom in his system, still," Will said. "At least you're okay."

She didn't reply.

*

She sat by his bed all day, excused from camp activities. Will had given her a doctor's note. She wasn't sure if she was happy about it.

She made up poems on the spot, told him them.

Told him her darkest secrets and her greatest fears. She pretended that she didn't know why, but she knew that it was because her worst fear was already coming true.

They sent her back to her cabin at night. The separation was awful. She felt her life was tied to his, and when he fell, she was pulled down with him.

Connor was the only person who understood. He sat by her everyday, the silence conveying more meaning than words. Sometimes, when she started crying, he would come up to her. Give her a hug. A hug full of sadness and loneliness and grief. There was some kind of comfort in it too, and it made the new crack in her heart mend ever so slightly.

But the cracks never fully heal, and everyone, even the fullest, most sheltered people have them.

And after the war, everyone at camp had them.

But it still felt like hers was the biggest.

*

"Ugh, Elle! Do I have to go?" Katie whined for the seventh time. 

"Yes, Katie, you do," was the response. It was two months after the war and Katie had stayed in the infirmary for most of it, until her dad appeared to take her back to school. It was okay, a spiral of nothing, mostly, but she had her mortal friend Elle. Elle was good at being understanding about things she didn't understand, even though she was completely clueless.  "You need some fun, you're too worked up."  
About him, Katie thought. She said, "Fine! As long as I can stay in this," and gestured to her jeans and sweater.  
"Whatever."

*

The dance was crowded, and sweaty. Katie had lost sight of Elle a long time ago. Taylor Swift kept blaring from the speakers, and Katie groaned. Suddenly, the music stopped, Stay cut in half by a sudden blare of fanfares. Footsteps, and Katie turned around. Her breath hitched, thinking it was him. It wasn't. It was just Connor. 

"Hey," he said. "Most of you don't know me. My name's Connor. And, Katie, get to the front. You're gonna want to see this."

Katie rolled her eyes. All she wanted was him. But she walked forward, obediently. Heads turned, wondering how she knew this random kid. She smiled weakly. Connor grinned conspiratorially at her. Then the music restarted, and Connor began to sing. 

Oh, mother of the gods, he was singing Shrek. 

"I thought love was only true in fairy tales," he began, and she groaned. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't him. "Meant for someone else- but not for me!" This, Katie could relate to. "Love was out to get me!" It was definitely out to get her. It wasn't fair.

The verses continued, and there was a rustling in the chorus, as someone else began to sing. Onto the stage came Will, hair glistening with sweat, limping slightly, first aid kit in hand. But he wasn't singing. She looked to his left. Someone was leaning on him.

She rubbed her eyes; blinked. Was she imagining? He was still there. Still singing. A familiar orange shirt, grey, mud-stained shorts, camp necklace-- and him. 

"Then I saw her face!"

She saw his face, and she ran. Ran up the stairs to the stage, ignoring the stairs, and Elle's whoops, and the confused murmuring, shoving past Connor, who was grinning like a madman. She had to get to him.

They connected, first in a hug. She was crying and squeezing him tighter than she'd ever done before.

Then their lips touched. And she felt it, the fireworks and the explosions, her head dizzy with joy, as if she was floating. Nothing else mattered, not the principal, walking up the stage, not the music, or the dancing.

It was just Katie. Katie and... him.

"I missed you," he whispered. 

"I missed you too, you idiot," she replied. She was grinning like an idiot herself when they pulled apart.

He was back.

"I love you," he whispered. 

"I love you too."

"Did you hear that?" he shouted. "I, Travis Stoll, love Katie Gardiner more than anything."

Then, something snapped. She punched him.

"Don't you ever, ever even think about doing that again," she told him. He laughed.

"I love you," he replied, as if that was an answer.

She started crying then, harder and faster than ever before.

*

That night, they went to the roof of her apartment complex. Sat there, holding each other, never letting go. The stars shone brightly, the huntress, with all her strength, guarding them from harm. And so they sat, all night, beneath the warmth of the stars, making promises that they would stay forever.


End file.
